what Steve is doing on The Cloud – Day 4 of 30

Steve woke up this morning to another beautiful day on The Cloud. Most residents loved the perfect weather up here. Those who came from extreme climates were especially pleased.

He hoped that it was a beautiful day on The Earth, too. That usually meant the communication lines would be open, unless solar flares or meteor crashes or double rainbows or other galactic interference got in the way. He wanted to catch President Obama’s acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention. Surely 48 hours was enough time to get the news feed up to The Cloud.

Steve had been far too preoccupied with his own affairs to pay much attention to politics on The Earth, but he hadn’t forgotten that 2012 was an election year. He hoped to hear good news for Apple and, of course, business in general. Two years ago he had laid it all out—told Obama he was headed for a one-term presidency unless he took Steve’s advice and made it easier to build factories in the US. Also, he should reform the educational system, give visas to foreign engineers, start training new engineers, and a few other things.

Had Obama listened to him?

He set out on the long walk to the iTower. His route took him right past the food tents in The Ellipse, but he decided to skip breakfast today and go for lunch instead. Just beyond were the sparkling pools at The Rectangle where he had completed his first work assignment and gotten a promotion to CPO. In the distance he could see the enormous mass of The Dome with its two smaller satellite domes on either side. One day he would have to go over and see what they actually did in there.

Finally he came to the iTower, his favorite retreat from the crowds that now overpopulated The Cloud. Riding up to the tenth floor in the exterior elevator he had a really good view of the landscape, but no matter how hard or how often he looked, he had never been able to spot The Exit, the place people disappeared to. Neither had anyone else.

Steve sat down at his reserved iMac in the communications room and searched for a video of the speech. He listened, eyes closed, until he heard his own name.

“We believe that a little girl who’s offered an escape from poverty by a great teacher or a grant for college could become the next Steve Jobs…”

Well, sure! Only one problem: he himself was planning to be the next Steve Jobs.